THE HORROR, THE HORROR: Internet nerds have, of course, sniffed out the arcane literary references in True Detective, with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. Showrunner Nic Pizzolatto, a novelist and former college literature professor, has tapped into an 1895 book of horror stories by Robert W Chambers, The King in Yellow, now a best-seller on Amazon. The Daily Beast has the first four stories.

THE ART OF POLITICS: While we enjoy season one of House of Cards (TV3, Sunday, 10.30pm), the US is gobbling up season two, on Netflix. Lead Kevin Spacey dropped by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and had a few choice words for US politicians.